


Bits and Pieces and Things

by StuftZombie



Series: Dragon and Detective [3]
Category: Sherlock (TV), Sherlock Holmes & Related Fandoms
Genre: Alternate Universe - Urban Fantasy, Dragon John, Dragons, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-07-27
Updated: 2014-01-28
Packaged: 2017-12-21 12:15:32
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,870
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/900199
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StuftZombie/pseuds/StuftZombie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Everyone has a story. How they got from where they were to where they are. Some are fantastic, some are boring, it's just a fact of life. </p><p>Thankfully even when it's boring there is still a dragon around.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Something About Harry, but Mostly John

**Author's Note:**

> Bit more world building in regards to the life and times of John the Dragon. More characters and tags to come as I add chapters. 
> 
> Beta but not britpicked.

It was Harry that started him thinking about humans. Interestingly enough, it was her rants and raves against them that lead to him eventually bonding with one. John found it funny. She, of course at first, didn’t. Which made it funnier.

 _Romantic,_ she’d hissed. _She thought of it as romantic? Can you believe that?!_

John opened an eye lazily at Harry’s rant. _Maybe if I knew what you were talking about._

Harry glared and stomped a tight circle before sitting down loudly. His nest mate switched between glaring at him and into the distance. John was used to dramatics from her, but never up to this level and that made him curious.

 _Harry, take a minute and explain_ , he thought calmly.

 _Fine_ , she huffed, _it’s Clara._

_Your bond?_

_Not anymore_ , Harry hissed again, _she doesn’t “want” a dragon anymore. Not since her fiancée said she didn’t want to share Clara. Told Clara it was me or her. Made it seem like some grand gesture. Prove your love, ditch the dragon._

 _But, Mike and Elory are bonded with married humans. I don’t see why it’s an issue_ , John said a bit confused.

 _That’s the thing! It isn’t a problem!_ Harry flopped down on her side, _Dolaris is just a jealous little…UH! She’s just a raging unholy bitch!_

John paused, _Bitch…that’s a bad word isn’t it?_

The question seemed to break Harry’s rage, _Yeah, human one. Very appropriate. Bit like a cross between an egg smasher and a flirt-gill._

 _Oh_ , John sat up. _Tell me what you really think._

 _Careful, I just might_ , Harry sighed. _It’s just…some humans don’t like us. Think dragons are out to get them. Which is stupid of course._

 _I don’t even know why dragons bond_ , John huffed, _seems like too much work._

 _They’re worth it. Mostly. Clara wasn’t my first bound, thank god, otherwise I might not have been able to say that._ She shifted her head to lay it on John’s back. _Just have to remind myself at times like this._

John twisted his head to look at her, _Still seems like too much effort._

_Yeah well, you’ve never left the mountain. So listen to your sister._

_You’re my nest mate_ , John rolled his head. _We aren’t actually related._

_Shut up and let me be needy._

_Okay Harry._

***

He may not have thought about it again if she hadn’t said humans were worth it. John didn’t know what she meant. As far as he knew you could only talk to one of them properly and had to find other ways of communicating with the rest. Psy-nulls. So hard to manage. Why would you want to be surrounded by them? In the mountains, forests, and even beaches, a dragon can live with the rest of his kind. Many did, but most went and found a human. He couldn’t figure out why, and sadly that just drove his curiosity.

 _So…where do you find a human_ , John asked one day.

Harry was rolling a rock between her forelegs. _In a town. Why?_

 _I don’t know_ , he shrugged.

 _Uh huh,_ Harry rolled her head, _try London it’s bigger. More people to pick from._

_Who says I want to pick a human?_

_No one_. She sounded vaguely innocent. It was a complete lie but she did sound convincing.

****

It was two weeks before John finally went to a human settlement. Two weeks later he was perched in London and watched a strange human dance around a crime scene and yell at people. Five days later he was sitting on a checked chair staring at a man and tapping his claw. Another two weeks he told Harry about the strange man and she started yelling about how stupid he was for selecting so fast.

Six months later Harry met Sherlock and began alternating between smugness and feeling sorry for John. Apparently being “right” about bonds didn’t make up for the fact the man kept body parts in the flat. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Notes:
> 
> So I should probably add that John and Harry are actually relatively old by human standards. John is just antisocial, or antisocial with humans at first.
> 
> Here is a note on some of the words used:  
> Nest mates: Basically every dragon born in the same year and nesting ground is a nest mate.  
> Egg smasher: Dragons breed slowly. Like pandas. You can see why smashing eggs might be a bad thing.  
> Flirt-Gill: Stole this off a Shakespearean insult list. The idea I had is dragons often use old words or language because they are long lived. Also the end of the heyday of Dragons was just around 1500's, a lot are still nostalgic for Elizabethan era.
> 
> Also I picked the name Dolaris as Clara's fiancee because I wanted a name that was easy to call a bitch. So she's now named after Umbridge.
> 
> As always let me know if you see any mistakes!


	2. Grey Area

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lestrade never really felt strongly one way or another about dragons.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the shortness of this one.

When it came to his opinion of dragons, there were some pretty polarizing stands. Some people thought they were the best thing since sliced bread. Obsessed with them, hunting for a way to bond with, or just be near one. Others believed humanity had suffered a great tragity by not actually killing them off centuries before. Thankfully the endangered species act kept the fanatics in check most of the time. 

Personally, Greg Lestrade was rather indifferent to them. No one had a dragon where he lived and he didn’t meet one until he moved to London. By then he had grown out of the idea of dragons being the mythical creatures his childhood friends talked about. Instead he was a brand new officer who walked straight up to a women and her knee high dragon and questioned them about a recent string of break ins. The other officers had been arguing about how to approach the pair, and it was getting close to them drawing straws. Everyone else on the scene yelled at him for breaking a huge taboo. The dragon on the other hand just nodded and supplied his statement through his bond. From there on out he figured that was how he would handle every dragon he met.  

Most of the time it worked. Every once in a while he’d get hissed at for even addressing them. Even had a fire ball directed at him once. He could move quickly enough without a fire well enough, so it wasn’t exactly surprising he could move when there was the added incentive. Still, he never had to deal with one on the creatures on a regular basis. That, of course, was until a certain consultant aquired one. 

It was strange at first to see a dragon regularly. The first time had been pleasent enough even if Anderson almost got himself lit on fire. He chatted with John shortly and kept the conversation respectful before giving a quick wave goodbye when they left. It didn't hit Greg that he would be seeing the dragon evertime Sherlock appeared until their second meeting. He premptively pulled out his note pad for John to use and chat while Sherlock yelled at the new tech. Greg would have interupted but he figured if the girl saw Sherlock at his very worst she'd manage to survive just about anything. John did not seem to agree since ten minutes in, he jumped across the room to his human's shoulder. One silent conversation later, and Lestrade wasn't sure how he had lived without out the scaley bastard. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> More to come when I have a chance.


	3. Gran's Dragon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sally had to learn about dragon's from somewhere.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the long ago promised update. I finished this awhile go and timed it with my beta being eaten alive by school. She emerged victorious this week and with her brought this next snippet. Truly she is a brave soul.

Sally’s most favorite place in the world growing up was her Grandmother’s house. Decades later, she still had fond memories of the place. The old woman had a never ending supply of comfort and sweets that would make Sally forget about the troubles of the day and worries about school. In years past, Sally’s mother, in a well-tailored power suit, would drop her daughter off before driving to a conference. Sally would run in the small house to find her grandmother knitting on the couch. Sometimes she would stay there for weeks on end reading and “helping” to bake. According to Gran, taste testing was the most important part of the baking process which Sally took very seriously. Of course it also helped that Gran had a dragon.

Elli was, as far as Sally was concerned, the best thing in the world. She was a larger, green, feline like dragon coming up to an adult’s knee and had very delicate wings. Elli didn’t fly so much as glide around the room or off the roof, preferring to walk on the ground. Gran had told her it was because Elli’s species of dragon has weaker wings. Sally didn’t care about that much, because Elli let Sally carry her around like a baby doll, and dress her like one as well.

Looking back, she wonders how she was able to get away with all the things she did to that poor creature. Sally suspects it has mostly to do with her Grandmother’s maternal love and Elli’s undying patience. Otherwise she would have a crippling fear of fire and things with claws. Instead, Sally was allowed to paint Elli’s foreclaws ridiculous colors and steal her for tea parties. Gran also taught her how to groom dragons while they molted and treat common ailments. It made sense in her child version of logic to assume she would eventually have one of her very own.

The first time the reality came crashing down was at the most horrible time imaginable. Gran passed away, peacefully thank God, and Sally was devastated. She was just beginning to accept the loss when she asked her mother when Elli was coming to live with them.

“What do you mean sweetheart?” her Mother kneeled down, for once not caring about mud getting on her clothing.

“Elli,” Sally said again, “Gran’s gone. We gotta look out for her.”

Her Mother frowned, “Oh sweetie, Elli’s not coming with us.”

“Why not?”

“She’s going back to her home. She was just-” she paused, “visiting with your Gran. Elli is going back to her family now.”

“But we’re family!” Sally screamed. Sally’s Mother picked her up, and began making calming shushing noises until her daughter was exhausted.

As an adult, Sally Donavon understood that Elli was probably grieving too. She even accepted that she would never see the green dragon again, let alone have one of her own. Instead, she focused on her work and saved fantasizing for when she was off the clock.

Thinking about her Gran wasn’t something she did often, unless she had to deal with Sherlock Holmes. Everything about the man rubbed her the wrong way. He came out of seemingly nowhere, and deemed years of studying and education she worked hard at utterly useless. He thought everyone was an idiot and voiced this loudly and often. There wasn’t a minute in his presence that she wasn’t restraining herself from trying to cause bodily harm. It was even worse when Holmes went after Lestrade. The man had done a lot for her and the freak just disregarded the D.I. like he was a means to an ends.

Then by some cosmic joke, Holmes got a dragon. He showed up to a crime scene with John curled up around his shoulder. For the first few months, Sally traded off between rage, jealously, and depression over the Freak becoming bonded, when she likely never would. However, she was able to be in contact with a dragon again, and that helped her act in a more civil manner to the detestable man. She’d tolerate Sherlock if it meant she could occasionally talk to John.

Somewhere along the line, other people took notice that the war between the two “S”s turned cold. Lestrade even made the mistake of thinking that the two of them actually became friends. The vocal reaction from both of them quickly corrected the now laughing Detective. 


	4. Introductions and head trauma

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And now, finally how John and Sherlock met.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooooo, this is finally going up. It was written long before season 3 so sorry if the descriptions of the parents or childhood is off.
> 
> I'm going to just leave this here...

As a young child, Sherlock spent a significant amount of time in his head. It was a side effect of having a mother who was both overprotective and often busy. Instead of attending school, he and Mycroft had private tutors who went over a plethora of subjects ranging from basic maths to Latin. The Holmes children had one of the best educations a parent could possibly hope for, but they were also very lonely. Sherlock’s friends tended to be characters of the most recent series of books he had finished. He would declare the books his favorite and decided it was the inspiration for his career path. Mycroft took it upon himself to curb these flights of fancy after a very inspired seven year old Sherlock tried to start a mutiny among the house staff against his piano tutor. As a result of that event Sherlock was switched to violin and the books Treasure Island and the Swiss family Robertson were hidden deep within the Holmes estate.

When Sherlock started showing interest in fantasy series, Mycroft grew concerned again. His younger brother especially had a fascination with dragons. Sadly the adults found it amusing and encouraged his efforts. It was only Mycroft who stepped in to set his brother straight.

“What do you mean I’m not going to have a dragon?” Sherlock seemed honestly confused by the idea.

“I’m simply stating it is extremely unlikely,” Mycroft flipped through a few pages of the Sword in the Stone, “Dragons are rare and I don’t see why one would chose a small child or you for that matter.”

“They might,” his brother tried.

“Most dragons willing to stay with someone are already bound and don’t disassociate from their person until the person’s death. No one in the Holmes family has a dragon, so you won’t inherit one. Also the likelihood of them bounding with anyone under the age of 16 is under 7% from the research I’ve gathered,” he frowned down at his brother, “Really Sherlock, you should move past this obsession.”

Sherlock had looked crushed by this information. He handed the book back to his brother who hugged it loosely to his chest. At the time Mycroft had honestly thought he was being kind.

***

Sherlock hadn’t thought to terribly much about dragons since then. His interactions with them as an adult mostly involved them as possible witnesses and in one very interesting case a possible murder. He still held a small fascination with them but it was mostly scientific.

That was at least until one started stalking him. He’d first seen the small purple dragon sitting atop a street light after yelling at a portion of Scotland Yard for bringing him in on what he determined to be an obvious case. The only reason it stuck with him was he couldn’t determine who the dragon was bound to. From what he understood, dragons rarely ventured off on their own in cities. Still, he dismissed the matter until he spotted the same dragon two days later. From what he could see, there were no repeat individuals. He saw the dragon few days later sitting on signal light outside a Tesco.

Certain the dragon was watching him, Sherlock began to formulate reasons for why. The most realistic explanation he thought up was that he angered someone, and the creature was a long range spy. While it could be intimidating, the use of a dragon made the spying rather obvious and thus useless really. Still, Sherlock compiled a list of possible suspects and was about to check on each of them when he had a surprise visit. Sherlock came of his room looking for his scarf when he spotted his purple stalker sitting comfortably on the plaid chair.

He stopped, observed the dragon, and decided to stand his ground. If this was a threat he would meet it head on. “Well,” he said, “I assume you have some sort of message.”

The dragon tilted its head and chriped.

“Some reason you’re here. Did I offend your master or interrupt a business plan of some sort? You’ll have to specify. I’ve had a busy few weeks,” Sherlock continued.

For a moment, the dragon tilted its head further. Then it straightened and the head bounced. The dragon was laughing at him.

“Did I say something amusing?”

The dragon nodded its head vigorously. Fire started crackling at the edge of the mouth and it rolled onto its back.

Sherlock straightened, “I’m glad find this enjoyable because I appear to be at a loss. I’ll have you know this is not something that happens terribly often.”

It rolled back over and blinked at him. The dragon stretched out its wings and jumped onto Sherlock’s shoulder. Sherlock had just enough time to regain his balance when the dragon pressed it’s head against Sherlock’s. Then he woke up with a dragon on his chest and a throbbing headache.

 _Well_ , came a voice in his head. _That was interesting_.

“What-“ Sherlock tried to sit up when a spike of pain went through the back of his head.

 _I wouldn’t do that. Took a nasty fall_ , the voice sounded amused.

He groaned, “I believe that would be your fault.”

 _No, pretty sure that is your fault_ , the dragon stretched, _being bloody tall and all. Makes for a long way to fall._

Sherlock exhaled through his nose, “Do I at least get to know my attackers name?”

The dragon pushed off his chest and jumped back onto the chair he appeared to claim as his. At the pressure Sherlock let out another groan. _If I’d known you were going to be this bratty I might have picked someone else. Guess I’m stuck with it now though, the creature huffed, name’s John._

“John,” Sherlock repeated, “suppose we could both do worse.”

  
****

Mycroft received some very interesting intelligence. It appeared a dragon was frequenting 221B Baker Street. He decided to visit his younger brother on one of his free hours. When he arrived on a Tuesday at 2:15 in the afternoon he was dive bombed by a flying reptile.

(It had taken Sherlock a long time to convince John to basically attack his brother. The look on his face was worth it though. Even John agreed.)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And it's done! Saying this was delayed feels like an underestimation. Hope to keep writing but I'm going to have everything done before I start posting.


End file.
